Stress and the Gym
by Gillian4Tiva
Summary: A new revelation could change Tony and Ziva's relationship.


It was 6:42 on a Monday morning when Ziva arrived in the bullpen. She was walking to her desk when she noticed Tony's bag was at his desk, but Tony was absent. First of all, she wondered why Tony was here this early, Second of all, she wondered where the said man was?

She sat down at her desk because she thought he'd be back in a couple of minutes.

Ten minutes later and still no Tony. Ziva got up from her desk and went to investigate. She first checked the Men's restroom, and he wasn't in there. She checked Autopsy, and he wasn't there either. Ziva thought of the places he would be. An idea popped into her head. She took the elevator to the basement to Abby's lab. No Tony or their favorite goth.

Then she remembered where she went right after she got home from Somalia. She took the stairs so she could sneak up on him. As she approached the Gym door, she could hear what sounded like someone punching something. She peered through the door and, there he was, punching his heart out on the punching bag. He had sweat pants on and no shirt. He was listening to his IPod.

She stood there watching him for a couple minute when he stopped hitting the punching bag and grabbed a towel to dry off. He walked over to the weight set and started lifting.

She would have a bone to pick with him later about not lifting with a spotter.

She watched the way his biceps and triceps flexed, how the sweat was dripping from him, and then she noticed his 8-pack abs.

Last time she saw him shirtless, he didn't have abs, he had a beer gut.

She had been watching him for twenty minutes when he got up and dried himself off, like before. He moved to the treadmill and turned it on high. It was set at sprinting speed, and he was running with all his might, like there was no tomorrow.

That's when she noticed it. She couldn't see what it said, but she knew it was a word. On his left hip, he had a tattoo low enough to where he could hide it with his pant line. After she saw that, she thought she'd seen too much and invaded his privacy, but she couldn't will herself to stop watching him. She was too intrigued by him.

She got snapped out of her thoughts by the treadmill sound lessening. Tony set it for walking speed so he could warm down. A couple minutes later, he got off, dried the sweat off of himself again, grabbed a bag, and headed for the showers.

Ziva made sure Tony was in the shower before she slipped inside the showers. She could see the steam rising over the curtain of the shower Tony was in.

When Tony opened the curtain to get his towel, there stood his ninja, smirking and holding his towel. He quickly covered himself with the curtainand smiled nervously before he took the towel out of her hand.

"Thanks" he muttered and closed the curtain. He emerged with the towel wrapped around his waist.

Before he could ask her why she was in the Men's shower, she spoke. "So this is where you go if you're stressed?"

"Uh yeah"

"By the looks of things, you're stressed a lot." She smiled and looked at his abs.

He chuckled, "Well with my assignment over, I couldn't not come down here. So, do you still think we need time?"

It was her turn to be nervous "I think we still do."

"Good"

Wanting to change the subject before things got deeper, Ziva spoke "So that tattoo of yours. What's it say?"

Tony stuttered," It says...um...it says uh a name"

"It does eh? Well what name does it say"

Knowing he couldn't lie to her, he dropped the towel enough to where she could see the tattoo clearly. She gasped when she read it.

To say she was shocked was an understatement, and you could tell it when she spoke "It says, Ziva"

Right there on Tony's left hip, in blue ink, was the name _Ziva_, and the _i_ was dotted with the Star of David.

"Yes it does"

"When did you get it?"

"...right after I got the news that you had died on the Damocles"

"Why?'

He couldn't come up with the right words, so he said the same thing he said two years ago. "I told you before, I can't live without you, and when I thought you had died, I wanted to always remember you, though I could never forget you" He said with the same shrug he did when he said it the first time.

She had a tear in her eye before he spoke again, "So...you still think we need more time, how about Movie Night tonight at my place. I'll order Chinese?"

She was still speechless, so she shook her head yes.

"Great! I still have to get dressed, so do you think you could...?"

"oh yeah sorry" She choked out. She smiled a light smiled before she left him and went to the bullpen.

Ten minutes later. Tony appeared, all dressed in his suit, Zegna shirt, and Armani shoes. He sat down on at his desk, and that's when the Bossman decided to show up.

"Dead Marine. Grab your gear" He barked.

Tony and Ziva got their gear and left, but not before giving each other a big smile.


End file.
